SEDGWICK, Maine — Coast Guard officials say they’ve stopped searching off the Maine coast for possible occupants of an empty sailboat that came ashore because the boat’s owner contacted them to say he had left it there.

Lt. Nick Barrow says the boat’s owner saw a news release about the search and told the Coast Guard he wasn’t in distress.

The case has been closed.

State police had notified the Coast Guard on Tuesday afternoon that the 12-foot sail dinghy came ashore with its sail halfway up west of the Benjamin River.

The area that was searched is in the Eggemoggin Reach between Deer Isle and the mainland.